my employee is unreliable and bad at her job, putting stickers on a work microwave, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. My employee is unreliable and bad at her job — but she’s temporary

My employee, “Amara,” has been in the company for several months in a two-year secondment. There’s been a lot of relatively small issues over this period, but they have culminated in a complete lack of trust.

For example, when she is asked to present her work at external meetings, on the day there will always be an excuse like she isn’t feeling well or has family/personal emergency/health issues. It’s almost like clockwork for many important meetings, and I’ll have to step in. She isn’t taking a sick day to log, it’s something that is almost just in that exact moment as a reason why she can’t be present or do something needed that day and then she’s fine.

There are wider examples that include consistently arriving late and leaving early, having reasons she can’t be here for our in-office days, and making quite serious mistakes in her work and sending things with very little attention to detail. It’s the consistency of these issues that are causing a problem and the defensiveness when this has all been flagged to her. The excuses also tend to get weaponized. For example, if I mention something being sent incomplete, I’ll get a response like, “As I said, I had a personal emergency…” (even if it has been many days since that specific emergency, which is then shortly followed by another emergency/personal issue). It’s about one emergency a week.

If she were a permanent employee, this would be easier to handle. But given that she is here for a limited amount of time, is it worth the stress of pushing further on these issues or escalating them when there’s already not a great relationship in place? Since there’s a timeframe on this contract, it almost doesn’t feel worth it to make a big deal about her work or attitude, but at the same time she can’t be trusted to deliver.

Yes, you absolutely should handle these issues the way you would if she were a permanent employee. I could understand not dealing with it if it were only a month or so, but two years is a long time; some permanent employees move on after only two years!

These are also not small issues — you’re describing serious mistakes in her work, defensiveness at feedback, and a pattern on unreliability. Ultimately the excuses shouldn’t sidetrack you — regardless of what’s going on in her personal life, you need someone in the role who can be reliably at work and deliver on the requirements of the job. Right now, that’s not her. The next step is to lay out very clearly what would be required to remain in the role and see if she can do it.

2. Adding stickers to the work microwave

I’ve recently gone through some illnesses that have left me physically disabled, including with visual impairment. Working from home isn’t an option, and I’m negotiating with my manager and HR to get the accommodations I need to continue doing my job.

However, a full day in the office means lunch in the shared space with coworkers. Our shared microwave (all microwaves?) is difficult for me to use; the control buttons are flat and not usually in contrasting colors. (I feel the need to say that the work microwave is eight years old, and not some sort of special super-high end machine or part of a break room aesthetic.) There are some things I can do to make it usable beyond asking someone else to put my meal in for four minutes please. (Sometimes I want hot food. And right now I’m scared of salad.) At home i use various colors of “bump dots,” but for work I was thinking of these called stactiles: they’re lower profile, but still brightly colored and tactile.

My question is how to approach my coworkers. I don’t think this is an accommodation that needs to go through HR with paperwork. My gut instinct is to just do it and send an email that says, “I’ve added some decals to make the microwave usable for me. You can still use and clean it as usual.” And maybe add, “Let me know if you’d like more info on how the decals help me or where to get your own.” As if, of course I can do what I need to use the shared space and of course no one would mind. But is that an okay tone? Should it be more collaborative (“I need to do this, who wants to help me pick out stickers?”) or asking permission (“Would it be okay with everyone if I…”)?

Everything feels hard and hard to navigate and I could write you a lot of questions, not about legal stuff, but mostly about why humans and why so thoughtless and I am here and want to work and why are we making it hard. But can I put my bright red and blue stickers on the microwave and how do I tell my coworkers to leave them alone and not make fun of them and not complain?

I’d actually go through official channels for this — not because it should be a big deal (it definitely shouldn’t) but because when you’re altering work property it’s good to loop someone in officially that it’s happening and also so that the decals don’t end up removed. It doesn’t need to be an asking-permission thing, exactly — it could be more, “In order to make the microwave usable for me and anyone in the future who’s vision-impaired, I’d like to add these stickers (link to them) that are a common tool for vision impairment and function as a sort of braille equivalent. Okay for me to just go ahead with it or do I need to do anything official first?” Or you could say, “I assume I don’t need to go the formal accommodations route for this but wanted to loop you in.”

Once it’s done, you could definitely send the “I’ve added some decals to make the microwave usable for me” email to everyone that you were thinking of initially.

3. Should I apply for a stretch role if it means giving up input into who’s hired?

My current boss, “Mariana,” is being promoted up to middle management and is hiring her replacement, and I have to decide if I should apply. It would be a real stretch for me and it’s unlikely I’d get the job; I spoke with Mariana last week and while she said I have the skills to excel in the role and would be a great leader for our team, she also acknowledged that I don’t have the resume she’s looking for, and other applicants apparently do. She said that if I were an external candidate she’d put my application in the back-up/second priority pile. (That said … I’m an internal candidate and have gotten glowing feedback at every review over the four years I’ve worked for her.) Mariana ultimately said that if I want the role, I should apply, and that it would be good interview practice.

However, if I apply, I can’t participate in the hiring process. The rest of my team is going to help review resumes and do panel interviews with the top candidates. I’m the only person in my role on my team and I’d really like to ensure that my new boss has a reasonable vision/expectations around this area of our work. Is the interview practice and small chance of getting the job worth the risk of ending up with a worse boss because I couldn’t participate in the hiring process? Do you have any general advice on when it’s worthwhile to apply to an internal role that’s a big stretch?

The interview practice for a single job isn’t worth the risk of ending up with a worse boss. The chance of getting the job yourself could be — but reading what Mariana said to you, I think she’s telling you that you’re highly unlikely to be the one she hires for it. Not because of “if you were an external candidate you’d be in the back-up pile” (because being an internal candidate and known quantity can give you a boost in that situation), but because “if you want the role, you should apply and it will be good interview practice” is basically telling you it will almost certainly only be good interview practice.

If it didn’t mean being locked out from input into the hiring process, there could be value in applying anyway — it can make your ambitions more visible to your company, help you spot the areas you need to work on for next time, etc. But since in this case it does come with a pretty significant downside, I’d likely pass it up. But I’d have one more conversation with Mariana before you do, to verify that this assessment is correct. You could say something like, “Normally I’d love the interview practice for a job like this even if my chances are low. But if I’m understanding you correctly that I’m very unlikely to be hired for it, I’d prefer to have input by participating in the hiring process. I just wanted to double check with you that my understanding about that is the right one!”

4. The job’s hours conflict with my school schedule — how should I handle it?

I’m at a crossroads right now and am not sure how to approach it. There’s an upcoming interview for a part-time position higher up where I currently work and, while I never assume I have the position, I do believe I am a serious contender. At the same time, I have plans to go back to school and work towards getting my bachelor’s degree. The degree is entirely online so its possible that, if I do get the position, I can do both. However, some of the classes meet virtually during times when I’d be working if I were to get the job.

The job’s hours aren’t exactly flexible because there’s a union that forces every reschedule to be considered a new position and interviews start all over. My teachers might be willing to let me watch videos of the classes, but that’s a big maybe.

When I do the interview and am asked if the listed hours work for me, how do I respond? I’ve been scratching and clawing for a promotion for awhile now and I have a serious shot here. Do I just say yes and figure it out later if things finally go my way? I’m not the type to lie. Even if I did, I’m not very good at it.

It sounds like this is a case where needing flexible hours will be disqualifying (and for a good reason). It doesn’t sound like there’s a practical way to fudge your scheduling needs in the interview in the hopes of working it out with them later.

In light of that, I think you’ve got to figure out if you’re willing to manage school around the job, which could mean not being able to take classes that meet during work hours. If you absolutely must take those classes, then I think you’ve got to figure out which you want more right now: the promotion or the school schedule.

5. Turned down a job offer, but now I want it

A few months ago, I started job searching. My job at the time was pretty good, but the company had been having financial difficulties for a while, resulting in no salary increases for anyone, ever, and also layoffs every so often.

I got a decent offer from another company but turned it down, because it would have been slightly worse than what I had. I haven’t gotten a better one since.

Now the inevitable happened: I was part of the most recent layoff. Suddenly that offer that I turned down looks great.

I can handle a couple of months more of job searching financially, but I wonder if it would be a good idea to contact the other company and ask if that position is still open? It seems possible to me, as it’s still posted and they even spoke about multiple vacancies at the time. If so, how do I word such a request?

Yes, you can do that! Say it this way: “When we spoke previously, I had decided to stay in my current position, but I was recently laid off. I’ve thought back on our conversations, and if you’re still looking for someone for the role, I’d welcome the chance to talk again and see if it might be a fit.”

Since you already turned the job down, they might be wary about whether you’re really enthusiastic now or whether you’ll be looking to leave right away if something else comes along — and you should be prepared for questions about why you originally decided not to take it — but there’s no reason not to give it a shot.